Sunday's Message - On the Gift

Here's the message I offered during the celebration services in the First United Presbyterian Church, Mingo Junction, Ohio on Sunday, December 13, 2020.

John 1:6-8, 19-28  [Contemporary English Version]

God sent a man named John, who came to tell about the light and to lead all people to have faith. John wasn’t that light. He came only to tell about the light.

The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, “No, I am not!” And when they asked if he were the Prophet, he also said “No!”

Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”

John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’”

Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. They asked him, “Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”

John told them, “I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don’t know. Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” John said this as he was baptizing east of the Jordan River in Bethany. 

On the Gift

As a way to navigate through this pandemic, I think it’s really important to keep as many of the Christmas traditions as we can. For example, COVID doesn’t prevent us from decorating the house or baking Christmas pies and cakes and cookies. Now those are two things we can still do. Just like we can still exchange gifts. And even though we may get them from a website rather than the mall, it just wouldn’t be the same without them. I mean, how can we sing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” without “presents by the tree.”

But you know, regardless of what’s by our tree this Christmas, for me, it’ll fade in comparison to those Christmases when I was a kid. Back then, man, it was magic, wasn’t it? And I’ll tell you, for me, my favorite gifts were the ones in our stockings. Now, they were by no means the “big presents.” In fact, they were actually really small and pretty inexpensive. But what made them important was that my dad picked out each and every one special for my sister, brother and I. And I’ve got to tell you, they were clever, appropriate and always reflected by dad’s sense of humor. But because they were in our stockings, it was assumed that they were from Santa, and that was true even after we’d stopped hearing the silver bell ring. And that was important, because not only were we not suppose to thank dad for these really cool gifts, he never talked about why he decided to get what he got. Instead, he was quiet, something kind of unusual for my dad, and let the gifts themselves do the talking. Now for me, they were always the best presents I got.

And I’ll tell you, I mention all this because directing attention away from self so that the gift can shine, well, that’s not necessarily something we do very well. You see, we often seem to drift into putting the spotlight on ourselves and push what we actually give into the shadows. In other words, whether intentionally or not, often we make it about ourselves not the gift. That’s kind of the way we are. But you know, we have that kind of attitude with more than just the stuff we can wrap. You see, as Christians, I think we’re constantly tempted to focus on ourselves rather than the truth we share, you know, the gift we can announce to the world, namely, the good news. And I’ll tell you, I think it starts with some of the assumptions we make right from the get go. For example, sometimes I think we assume that being a witness to Jesus Christ, well, it’s really all about the dedication and wisdom and spiritual insight we showed when we made the decision to do it. Man, God's lucky to have us on his side, right? But that’s not the only assumption we make, because we also assume that it’s actually about the way we decide to share the message. And because that’s what we often assume, then our ultimate success or failure, man, that’s about us too. Or so we often assume. And even though doing that kind of thing may have more to do with our humanity than anything else, when we give into this temptation, I think it distorts our relationship with God, because, when you get right down to it, as it relates to witness bearing, he really plays a secondary role, at least in our mind. But not only that, I believe it also distorts our message, because, like any good salesman, we’re probably going to emphasize the perks of membership and minimize the costs. I think that also happens. But maybe worst of all, this perspective can result in a false understanding of ourselves, maybe a feeling of righteous arrogance when we think we’ve been successful and spiritual shame when we’re sure we haven’t. You see, neither our lives nor our faith improves when we concentrate attention on who we are rather than on what we give.

But even though, like I said a minute ago, this may always be the direction that we sort of drift, I also believe we have it in our power to resist the temptation to focus on ourselves rather than the good news that we’ve been given the chance to share. And I’ll tell you, I think we can do just that when we make the decision to remember three things that can be found in the passage we just read and in the person of John the Baptist. 

For example, first, we can remember what God intends. In other words, we can remember that our sharing the love and the mercy and the acceptance of Jesus Christ is actually grounded in the will of God and not just in a decision that we made. And like I said, we can see this right here in the passage. I mean, the Evangelist John wrote:

God sent a man named John,

who came to tell about the light

and to lead all people to have faith.

John wasn't that light.

He came only to tell about the light. [John 1:6-8, CEV]

Now that’s what the Evangelist wrote. 

And I think those verses reflect on who’s actually in control of this whole shooting match. You see, it really wasn’t about John deciding to go into the world and deciding to tell about the light and deciding to lead people to faith. No, it was about God sending John to do a job. And to do it, he gave John both the opportunity and ability. You see, it wasn’t about the Baptist. And frankly, it’s not about us either. Instead, it’s about God giving us this incredible gift, a message that can change the world one person at a time, and then sending us out to share it. He initiates the sharing, because it’s grounded in his intention. You see, if we want to focus attention on that gift, that’s one thing we need to remember.

And second, along with remembering what God intends, we also need to remember why we’re here, and I’m talking about why we’re wherever we happen to be right now. In other words, we need to be clear about our purpose, a clarity that John the Baptist obviously had when this happened:

The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, “No, I am not!” And when they asked if he were the Prophet, he also said “No!”

Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”

John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’” [John 1:19-23, CEV]

You see, the Baptist knew exactly why he was there, around the Jordan River, and it had nothing to do with his dashing good looks, or his irresistible charm or his ability to shape a crowd-pleasing message. His job was to prepare the way, just like it’s our job to help the folks around us focus on that same way, the one we know is also the truth and the life. And this something we can do when we keep both our egos and eloquence in check and allow the light to shine through our actions and our attitudes and our words. I’ll tell you, if we want to focus attention on the gift that God gives rather than ourselves, we also can remember why we’re here.

And third, I believe it’s crucially important for us to remember whom we share. And deep down, I think we all know, we sure ain’t sharing us. And I’ll tell you, John the Baptist knew it too. Just listen to the Evangelist John:

Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. They asked him, “Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”

John told them, “I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don't know. Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” John said this as he was baptizing east of the Jordan River in Bethany. [John 1:24-28, CEV]

I’ll tell you, John the Baptist remembered something that we sometimes forget. When it comes to witness bearing or savior following, man, it’s not about us. Instead, it’s about the light and the word. You see, it’s about how “the light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out” [John 1:5, CEV] and how “the true light that shines on everyone [has come] into the world.” [John 1:9, CEV] And it’s about how “the Word was with God and was truly God; from the very beginning the Word was with God” [John 1:1b-2, CEV] and how “...with this Word, God created all things; nothing was made without the Word.” [John 1:3, CEV] But it’s also about how “the Word was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word; He came into his own world, but his own nation did not welcome him; yet some people accepted him and put their faith in him; so he gave them the right to be the children of God.” [John 1:10-12, CEV] And it’s about how “the Word became a human being and lived here with us [and how because of that] we saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father [and how] from him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.” [John 1:14, CEV] That’s the one to whom we bear witness. He’s the bread of life, the light of the world and the good shepherd. He’s the way, the truth and the life. That’s the gift we share. And personally, I believe we share it best when we obey his commandment. Later in the gospel, Jesus will say, “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” [John 13:34-35, CEV] John knew the one whom he was sharing, so can we. And along with what God intends and why we’re here, this we can also remember.

And I’ll tell you, when we do, when we remember that God has given us the ability and opportunity to share the good news, in other words, when we resist temptation and focus attention not on us but on the gift, something amazing happens to us. I’m telling you, when we do that, we are changed. For example, no longer will it be about what we want to do but rather on what God wants us to do. And no longer will it be about us sweetening the message so it’s easy to swallow but rather on us simply reflecting the light and trusting the word. And take it to the bank, no longer will it be about how magnificently we’ve succeeded or miserably we’ve failed but rather on humbly sharing Jesus Christ to the world as best we can. You see, we are changed when we focus on the gift.

Now remember, at the very beginning of the message, how I mentioned the song, “I’ll be home for Christmas.” Do y’all remember the last line? I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams. Well I’ll tell you, COVID has made that more real than we could have imagined a year ago, hasn’t it? And maybe that’s why it’s important for us do as much as we can to celebrate the season as best we can, which for me means remembering those wonderful gifts my dad, I’m sorry, those wonderful gifts Santa would put in my stocking. Of course, I don’t know if doing that changed him, but I can tell you, the way he stepped to the side so we could focus on the gifts, well, that made a big difference to me. 

And for us, maybe we could do the same kind of thing in our Christian lives. I mean, instead of assuming it’s all about our decision and our message and our success or failure, maybe we could step back and think about this passage and the example of John the Baptist. And then, maybe we could simply remember what God intends and why we’re here and whom we share. And you know, if we’re able to do that, we’ll be sharing a gift far greater than anything that could be put by the tree or found in a stocking.